Wasn't Impressed with Maret - What's So Great About It?

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a high school kid, I would not call Maret unstructured. I might call it torture. I might say the administration doesn’t care and I might say that the teachers have way too much oversight (flipped classroom does not work the way it’s being done) but not unstructured.

What I find funny about your post is that there aren’t a lot of posts about Maret at all on DCUM. The parents don’t seem active on these boards and I don’t feel like they have an ax to grind with the school. The school doesn’t bow down to parent demands. The school makes few accommodations. The school is shockingly rigid. But none of those are bad things for the right kid. I can’t stand the school. And I think some of the classes are a joke and the faculty are poor. But my kid is an excellent speaker and he can write better than some of my highly educated colleagues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't try to compare Maret to Sidwell, St Albans or GDS.

1. Compare it with Field, Burke, St Andrews (further away).
2. It does have a rich but not as smart rep but you'll find a good mix of kids.
3. It is more laid back then a few schools and very small socially.

How is it considered not as smart? The kids are going to the same colleges as GDS kids every year.

So strongly disagree not as smart. Quite a few kids in my kid’s class chose it over Sidwell. 1) it’s smaller. 2) walking distance to house; and 3) they could play on the sport team.

The kids work really hard and the expectations are high. Too high. Maret isn’t for everyone but the kids there are very bright.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW there have been several Sidwell kids who have come over to Maret despite them doing well academically at Sidwell (not counseled out). Students wanted the high school rigor but also more supportive environment---have good friends who made the move and have been happy. Kids didn't hate Sidwell but preferred Maret. This wasn't the case 15 years ago.

You mean the three football players over the last 7 years?

Or the child of the founder of Blue Mercury…who was definitely not a football player. Nice try.

Is your point that, over the years, Maret has gotten a few of Sidwell’s sloppy seconds? Blue Mercury and a handful of football players? That’s cute…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most kids of yours are not getting into any school anyway. If you are well connected, you would not be posting here.

But that's exactly the point, posters are saying they don't want to go here. Sidwell or GDs are on a higher tier anyhow.

If that helps you sleep better at night, sure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW there have been several Sidwell kids who have come over to Maret despite them doing well academically at Sidwell (not counseled out). Students wanted the high school rigor but also more supportive environment---have good friends who made the move and have been happy. Kids didn't hate Sidwell but preferred Maret. This wasn't the case 15 years ago.

You mean the three football players over the last 7 years?

Or the child of the founder of Blue Mercury…who was definitely not a football player. Nice try.

Is your point that, over the years, Maret has gotten a few of Sidwell’s sloppy seconds? Blue Mercury and a handful of football players? That’s cute…

Ahhhh said with the patronizing tone only a PoS Sidwell parent can carry off. Bravo for calling kids “sloppy seconds.” Classy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a high school kid, I would not call Maret unstructured. I might call it torture. I might say the administration doesn’t care and I might say that the teachers have way too much oversight (flipped classroom does not work the way it’s being done) but not unstructured.

What I find funny about your post is that there aren’t a lot of posts about Maret at all on DCUM. The parents don’t seem active on these boards and I don’t feel like they have an ax to grind with the school. The school doesn’t bow down to parent demands. The school makes few accommodations. The school is shockingly rigid. But none of those are bad things for the right kid. I can’t stand the school. And I think some of the classes are a joke and the faculty are poor. But my kid is an excellent speaker and he can write better than some of my highly educated colleagues.

Can you elaborate? How is the HS rigid? Do you think the new HoS will help with some of the problems you have with it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW there have been several Sidwell kids who have come over to Maret despite them doing well academically at Sidwell (not counseled out). Students wanted the high school rigor but also more supportive environment---have good friends who made the move and have been happy. Kids didn't hate Sidwell but preferred Maret. This wasn't the case 15 years ago.

You mean the three football players over the last 7 years?

Or the child of the founder of Blue Mercury…who was definitely not a football player. Nice try.

Is your point that, over the years, Maret has gotten a few of Sidwell’s sloppy seconds? Blue Mercury and a handful of football players? That’s cute…

Ahhhh said with the patronizing tone only a PoS Sidwell parent can carry off. Bravo for calling kids “sloppy seconds.” Classy.

The two of you are proof of the fact that the families in these schools are pretty much the same people and the schools are pretty much the same.

You two have a lot in common.

[Anonymous]

Across the board, people are not impressed with Maret. Especially college admissions people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Across the board, people are not impressed with Maret. Especially college admissions people.

Lol!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seemed very lefty (and we consider ourselves liberal) and had kind of a "let the kids do what they want" kind of vibe to it. It wasn't structured enough for our liking. And I feel like loud and domineering kids could easily run that school and set the tone and quieter kids would get drowned out. Can anyone share some insight?

Ultra lefty, unstructured, kids running wild…your description sounds like GDS.
Are you confusing Maret with GDS?

Give it a rest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a high school kid, I would not call Maret unstructured. I might call it torture. I might say the administration doesn’t care and I might say that the teachers have way too much oversight (flipped classroom does not work the way it’s being done) but not unstructured.

What I find funny about your post is that there aren’t a lot of posts about Maret at all on DCUM. The parents don’t seem active on these boards and I don’t feel like they have an ax to grind with the school. The school doesn’t bow down to parent demands. The school makes few accommodations. The school is shockingly rigid. But none of those are bad things for the right kid. I can’t stand the school. And I think some of the classes are a joke and the faculty are poor. But my kid is an excellent speaker and he can write better than some of my highly educated colleagues.

Can you elaborate? How is the HS rigid? Do you think the new HoS will help with some of the problems you have with it?

We are in December and I’ve only seen the HoS at one event I’ve attended. I’ve never met him in person. My kid doesn’t know him and doesn’t feel like he has made an effort to get to know the kids so too early to know. That being said, when it came time to ask for a donation, he was happy to answer questions and talk to parents. I gather he’s trying not to rock the boat the first year.

In terms of rigidity, I would recommend looking at the typical schedule of a 9th and a 10th grader. It’s a long block schedule and there is virtually no free time for study hall etc given the number of classes the kids must take and how the schedule works. One class in particular gives a very large number of tests and quizzes and assigns makes ups on a specific day, which barely gives you time to learn the material and then learn it better if you bomb the first test. There is a lot of homework. Some teachers insist that all note-taking, tests, and journals be handwritten, which is really fun when you haven’t written by hand in four years and your handwriting is illegible.

5% late policy per day (but not uniformly applied - that one doesn’t bother me. Deadlines are impt. But it does bother me if applied due to a kid being sick.) There is a policy about being able to request to move deadline per class per semester, which I think is great, but some teachers make the kids feel bad about using it.

One teacher returned a form to each kid after an oral project of some kid and the paper had 40 or so negative words and 5 positive ones and he circled the 5 that pertained most to each kid. How’s that for positive reinforcement!

On the plus side, we like built in office hours as kids are expected to meet with kids and self advocate.

There are pros and cons at every school. There is enough there to keep us there but not enough to ever do it again. If we hadn’t had Covid in the middle and we had known what we know now, we wouldn’t have picked it for our kid. But it does work for a lot of kids and a lot of families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a high school kid, I would not call Maret unstructured. I might call it torture. I might say the administration doesn’t care and I might say that the teachers have way too much oversight (flipped classroom does not work the way it’s being done) but not unstructured.

What I find funny about your post is that there aren’t a lot of posts about Maret at all on DCUM. The parents don’t seem active on these boards and I don’t feel like they have an ax to grind with the school. The school doesn’t bow down to parent demands. The school makes few accommodations. The school is shockingly rigid. But none of those are bad things for the right kid. I can’t stand the school. And I think some of the classes are a joke and the faculty are poor. But my kid is an excellent speaker and he can write better than some of my highly educated colleagues.

Can you elaborate? How is the HS rigid? Do you think the new HoS will help with some of the problems you have with it?

We are in December and I’ve only seen the HoS at one event I’ve attended. I’ve never met him in person. My kid doesn’t know him and doesn’t feel like he has made an effort to get to know the kids so too early to know. That being said, when it came time to ask for a donation, he was happy to answer questions and talk to parents. I gather he’s trying not to rock the boat the first year.

In terms of rigidity, I would recommend looking at the typical schedule of a 9th and a 10th grader. It’s a long block schedule and there is virtually no free time for study hall etc given the number of classes the kids must take and how the schedule works. One class in particular gives a very large number of tests and quizzes and assigns makes ups on a specific day, which barely gives you time to learn the material and then learn it better if you bomb the first test. There is a lot of homework. Some teachers insist that all note-taking, tests, and journals be handwritten, which is really fun when you haven’t written by hand in four years and your handwriting is illegible.

5% late policy per day (but not uniformly applied - that one doesn’t bother me. Deadlines are impt. But it does bother me if applied due to a kid being sick.) There is a policy about being able to request to move deadline per class per semester, which I think is great, but some teachers make the kids feel bad about using it.

One teacher returned a form to each kid after an oral project of some kid and the paper had 40 or so negative words and 5 positive ones and he circled the 5 that pertained most to each kid. How’s that for positive reinforcement!

On the plus side, we like built in office hours as kids are expected to meet with kids and self advocate.

There are pros and cons at every school. There is enough there to keep us there but not enough to ever do it again. If we hadn’t had Covid in the middle and we had known what we know now, we wouldn’t have picked it for our kid. But it does work for a lot of kids and a lot of families.

Goes to show you how different experiences can be at the same school. I’ve seen the new HoS at nearly every event I’ve been to - from back to school night, sports Games, homecoming, etc. he’s also outside during drop-off in the morning several times a week and stops to chat if you say hello. I always joke about it with my DC how he seems to manage to be everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a high school kid, I would not call Maret unstructured. I might call it torture. I might say the administration doesn’t care and I might say that the teachers have way too much oversight (flipped classroom does not work the way it’s being done) but not unstructured.

What I find funny about your post is that there aren’t a lot of posts about Maret at all on DCUM. The parents don’t seem active on these boards and I don’t feel like they have an ax to grind with the school. The school doesn’t bow down to parent demands. The school makes few accommodations. The school is shockingly rigid. But none of those are bad things for the right kid. I can’t stand the school. And I think some of the classes are a joke and the faculty are poor. But my kid is an excellent speaker and he can write better than some of my highly educated colleagues.

Can you elaborate? How is the HS rigid? Do you think the new HoS will help with some of the problems you have with it?

We are in December and I’ve only seen the HoS at one event I’ve attended. I’ve never met him in person. My kid doesn’t know him and doesn’t feel like he has made an effort to get to know the kids so too early to know. That being said, when it came time to ask for a donation, he was happy to answer questions and talk to parents. I gather he’s trying not to rock the boat the first year.

In terms of rigidity, I would recommend looking at the typical schedule of a 9th and a 10th grader. It’s a long block schedule and there is virtually no free time for study hall etc given the number of classes the kids must take and how the schedule works. One class in particular gives a very large number of tests and quizzes and assigns makes ups on a specific day, which barely gives you time to learn the material and then learn it better if you bomb the first test. There is a lot of homework. Some teachers insist that all note-taking, tests, and journals be handwritten, which is really fun when you haven’t written by hand in four years and your handwriting is illegible.

5% late policy per day (but not uniformly applied - that one doesn’t bother me. Deadlines are impt. But it does bother me if applied due to a kid being sick.) There is a policy about being able to request to move deadline per class per semester, which I think is great, but some teachers make the kids feel bad about using it.

One teacher returned a form to each kid after an oral project of some kid and the paper had 40 or so negative words and 5 positive ones and he circled the 5 that pertained most to each kid. How’s that for positive reinforcement!

On the plus side, we like built in office hours as kids are expected to meet with kids and self advocate.

There are pros and cons at every school. There is enough there to keep us there but not enough to ever do it again. If we hadn’t had Covid in the middle and we had known what we know now, we wouldn’t have picked it for our kid. But it does work for a lot of kids and a lot of families.


[/quote

You only picked Maret because you had Covid?

What?

[Anonymous]

Ha no. Bad wording but accurate on my part. Admissions process during Covid so couldn’t visit schools in person. Or very limited interaction. Come to think of it though - at the time that we signed the dotted line, in fact, at least one of us had Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW there have been several Sidwell kids who have come over to Maret despite them doing well academically at Sidwell (not counseled out). Students wanted the high school rigor but also more supportive environment---have good friends who made the move and have been happy. Kids didn't hate Sidwell but preferred Maret. This wasn't the case 15 years ago.

You mean the three football players over the last 7 years?

Or the child of the founder of Blue Mercury…who was definitely not a football player. Nice try.

Who graduated with DS from … Sidwell? No